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* Finally, at long last, Rod Blagojevich’s free rides for seniors plan is getting a much-needed overhaul…
The new [income] limit would require a senior living alone to make no more than $41,000 a year. Seniors living together would be limited to $54,000, and three seniors could make no more than $57,000.
State Sen. Ricky Hendon, D-Chicago, said the limits are reasonable. Though he said the real test will be how the Chicago Transit Authority and Regional Transportation Authority will handle the new limits, and new pool of money.
“Let’s see what they do with the money. I don’t trust them…They just want to take the money and run. We want to make sure with the sunset at least we can see if they keep their word.”
The limits on free rides would expire in two years. Chicago’s mass transit officials say they need at least that long to recover from the cost of the free rides program first started under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously and now goes to the House, where it will likely zoom through. The free rides program for seniors regardless of income has stuck in the craw of many, so this change will help calm some well-deserved rage.
* AT&T’s deregulation bill passed the House unanimously yesterday…
Under the measure, SB 107, broadband and Internet-based phone providers would be guaranteed for the life of the law that those services would remain unregulated. Internet-based phone services would be required to register with the Illinois Commerce Commission but would only have to provide very basic information. That information would allow the state to map where Illinois does and does not have adequate broadband adoption.
Regulations on landline service providers would also be loosened. Instead of requiring repair of landline service within 24 hours, the measure would allow a 30-hour window. The threat of a $30 million fine for companies such as AT&T for failing to meet service quality standards would also disappear if the bill became law.
They would, however, still be subject to fines of up to $200,000 for each offense. Other service quality standards would include installing service to customers within five business days and keeping appointments with customers. Failing to meet those standards would result in consumer credits.
The measure would also fix costs for three levels of basic phone service for the next three years.
Proponents say loosening regulations and providing regulatory certainty will encourage telecommunications companies to invest in broadband in Illinois, which in turn would bring more jobs in other sectors to the state.
The consumer advocacy group The Citizens Utility Board says the bill contains no provisions requiring telecommunications companies to invest in broadband throughout the entire state, including rural and low-income areas, nor does it guarantee jobs.
This is either a great bill or a disaster. Nobody knows for sure what AT&T will do, but there’s no guarantee of more jobs or better and wider broadband service. It’s a “trust us” thing, and those have a habit of backfiring.
A day after offering to help the financially strapped state with a $500 million payment in exchange for a rate hike, ComEd late Wednesday changed its mind.
The state-regulated utility pulled its offer after concerns were raised about consumer protection and how the deal would be construed.
“In last few days … it has become clear that there is not enough support in Springfield to continue pursuing this course,” ComEd said in a statement. “We acknowledge and respect the concerns many public officials have and will move on.”
Not a smart move on their part.
* As we told you last night, the Chicago school voucher bill was put on Postponed Consideration after receiving just 48 votes. It could come back again, since there was a lot of vote-switching and late “No” votes yesterday…
However, sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, told the Sun-Times that he probably won’t bring it back until November…
Joyce kept the voucher plan alive through a parliamentary maneuver, but it won’t resurface during the remaining two scheduled days of the Legislature’s spring session. Instead, Joyce said he may try to revive it after the fall elections.
We didn’t post this last night, but Rep. Joyce delivered one of the strongest closing speeches I’ve seen in 20 years. Watch it…
Rep. Lou Lang, an opponent of the bill, defended his side against charges that they are in the back pockets of the teachers’ unions…
* I’m told that this bill may come up for another vote today…
A move to redefine green energy in Illinois died a quick death this week in Springfield, and we’re thankful that lawmakers’ frenzied push for job creation did not trump common sense.
Legislators were correct to keep power created by incinerating rubber tires in a separate and less-desirable category than wind and solar power. Harnessing the elements to produce electricity differs greatly from burning tires for power, and we’re thankful it only took two days for Springfield lawmakers to figure that out.
* The “Worst Bill Ever” was scheduled for a hearing last night, but didn’t move. Its sponsors are hoping to get the STAR bonds bill back on track today…
Legislation designed to make possible a major development project in Marion has been filed and awaits action in the House.
State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, has filed an amendment to Senate Bill 2093 to authorize Sales Tax and Revenue bonds for the project as an incentive to bring major destination development businesses into the area. The project was announced Saturday, just one day after a similar deal proposed by project developer Holland Construction of Swansea was killed over arguments and disagreements in its establishment.
State Rep. John Bradley is backing the legislation in the House.
Rep. Bradley ably defended his bill yesterday when pressed by three reporters. Watch it…
While he made some excellent points about the impact on his region, I still say this thing will become an uncontrollable monster in the coming years as more and more communities attempt to fund massive projects with state sales tax revenues.
* Related and a roundup…
* Illinois House Could Vote on Medical Marijuana This Week
* Ill. video poker expansion could be extended to 24-hour truck stops
* Arlington Park vision’s missing ingredient: The proposal cooling its heels in Springfield would authorize up to 1,200 slot machines at Arlington Park and other tracks, generating, supporters say, millions for the cash-starved state. But it has a fatal flaw. It overrides home-rule authority and forces on communities something that, let’s be candid, falls just short of a vast land-based casino, especially since Arnold refused to rule out the possibility of seeking other forms of gambling in the future.
* Dear lawmakers: Do the right thing for our region: Legislation must be approved creating sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds for the development of a tourism destination on a 400-acre site bordering Interstate 57 and north of Illinois 13 in Marion. The development plan from Bruce Holland, of Swansea, is projected to include a major retailing destination and entertainment venues, potentially including a sprawling resort and water park complex.
* Senate votes to scale back free rides for seniors
* School vouchers rejected despite suburban support
* Illinois House rejects vouchers
* Chicago school vouchers shot down by Illinois House
* Illinois School Voucher Bill Defeated
* Madigan’s ‘constituents’
* Mikva places blame for clout at UI’s feet, not legislators’
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 11:07 am
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Will quivering Quinn sign the rides for seniors bill?
Comment by Hank Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 11:33 am
You’re giving credit to a student for going from an f- to an f.
No other state has this and it’s totally unnecessary. Should college students get subsidized food because they are young and in college?
Comment by shore Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 11:40 am
I like visiting southern Illinois and sympathize with the high unemployment rate, but where’s the market for this Marion development?
Before the GA considers this, how about an analysis other than by Franklin County, which seems way pie in the sky.
Better yet, how about the developers put some skin in the game? As things stand now, the only ones sure to come out ahead in this project are the developers, who are doing it all on the taxpayers dime.
Having said that, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism could do a heck of a lot better job marketing regions outside of Chicago. The current catch-all TV spots that include Chicago, Starved Rock, Galena, the Mississippi, etc., are way too general.
There’s no tourism market for “Illinois.” But there is one for Chicago. And the Mississippi River. And Galena. And Starved Rock. And Shawnee. And Lincoln and Springfield. And activities like hunting, fishing and biking. IBOT does a promo on Channel 9 News, but it’s not enough.
I watch the state-produced outdoors shows for Wisconsin and Michigan all the time. The state’s costs are reduced through ad sales. Guess where I go camping?
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 11:41 am
lou Lang on vouchers
You know, I am confused. It seems that we do not send enough state money to schools to cover the cost of the child there.
If so, wouldn’t schools be better off by losing the students, since the income they lose is less than the cost of educating them?
As for his other argument, that “moving the best and brightest” makes for a worse system, that does not pass the logical test either.
It assumes that “worse” students would not take vouchers and leave. Some might.
And even if not, the same number of teachers with less kids to teach == more time spent on those who need it more.
In any event, as he said, the current system isn’t working. Why NOT try something different?
As for his other point, it is the job of the state to see they get educated, not necessarily to do the educating.
Comment by Pat Collins Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 11:53 am
The free rides bill, as was pointed out yesterday, will likely cost more than it will save.
You are making hundreds of thousands of new seniors call and visit the Department of Aging, with bank statements and income verification in tow. You don’t have the staff for that over at Aging.
And they have to do it every, single, year.
These are people who DON’T already qualify for Circuit Breaker, they aren’t on Medicaid, they have no interaction with the state, and may not even have to file taxes normally in Illinois.
You are adding millions of dollars in new burdens on the fragile state budget, just to cut free rides by 5-10 percent. Idiotic.
I agree with the poster yesterday: keep it all, or get rid of it all.
Comment by ok Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:10 pm
Governments traditionally muddle through a crisis. Over the past decade we saw Illinois government stop muddling. Now - the question is how can we catch up to where we need to be by muddling now? Our political leaders blew it for a decade, so that not only do we now have to catch up during one of the worse economic eras in generations, we have to also repair the damage caused by two corrupted gubernatorial administrations.
If we wish to muddle, we need new muddlers. Voters are not happy with the ones we have, and they have repeatedly demonstrated that if they do not have sufficient political cover to continue muddling - they stop and let all heck break loose. These people have to go!
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:17 pm
I wish someone would please finally explain how running a bus with an empty seat costs less than the same bus with a free loading senior in that seat. When they project their revenue losses they assume that the inflated number of senior riders they come up with would all be taking the CTA and paying full fare if they weren’t getting a freebie. They will save almost nothing and, as has been pointed out, will spend millions on a new bureaucracy.
Most seniors I know wouldn’t be caught dead on the CTA, free or not.
Comment by Bill Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:20 pm
The argument for the STAR bonds continues to revolve around the idea that these areas are “underdeveloped.” If that’s the case, the developers should be swooping in to develop the area whether or not they have assistance.
If the pot needs to be sweetened this much, it seems unlikely that “if you build it, they will come” holds true. I don’t know what, if any schemes, were used to develop Branson, but it looks to have grown naturally, with little planning or government assistance. If that Branson is the analogy the promoters use, I’d like to know a little more about how it developed.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:27 pm
Wow, the Dems are always touting education, except when it comes to actual performance or trying to improve performance like school vouchers, they are in bed with the unions, instead of caring about the kids
Comment by Say What??? Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:32 pm
Will the guv sign off on the end of free senior rides? I think previously he wasn’t for free senior rides, then he was, then….?
The problem I have with it is by all accounts a broad spectrum of cuts are needed. Cutting here and there, almostly randomly, based on what somebody read in the opinion page of the newspapers or what Democratic pols hope doesn’t annoy major campaign contributors–this doesn’t project anything other than fiscal chaos combined with hitting up random tax victims.
And who are the seniors gonna be mad at when they flash that card at the machine and it doesn’t work….
Comment by cassandra Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:33 pm
Say What, the sponsors of the voucher bill were Dems. The vote, both for and against, was about as bipartisan as anything you’ll see in Springfield.
If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:35 pm
“Let’s see what they do with the money. I don’t trust them…They just want to take the money and run.”
Translation: They won’t be giving it to my friends at $25,000 a pop, which is the best possible use of state funds.
Comment by Pat Robertson Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 12:49 pm
I don’t think the “rage” was well deserved at all. Did anyone do a study to see if the free rides for senior program actually helped the economy by getting seniors out, shopping, dining, etc.? I know of two suburban elderly couples who -never- took Metra until the free rides program began. Just who were these allegedly rich senior citizens who were using public transportation to go to the park or lakefront and then turning around and going home without spending a dime?
Comment by lake county democrat Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 1:04 pm
Means tested benefits require much infrastructure to administer. This will result in a net loss to all. Many seniors will despair of getting the pass since Dept of Aging has been decimated and the lines will be quite long. Adding more staff to handle the increased demand? That’s not even funny. What’s with the sunset clause? This gov’t can’t even cut something EVERYONE agrees should be cut. Rising despair.
I watch what is happening in Greece with all the riots over lost programs, benefits, pensions, etc. I worry about our state, our country. The gov’t can’t be all things to all people. It shouldn’t. Don’t we have ample proof that the gov’t is not capable of that? Right here in this state?
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 1:09 pm
Dear lawmakers: Do the right thing for our region: Legislation must be approved creating sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds for the development of a tourism destination on a 400-acre site bordering Interstate 57 and north of Illinois 13 in Marion.
Is there a typo here? Legislation MUST be approved?
Comment by reasonable Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 1:22 pm
How many projects have been called the “renaissance” that will “turn southern Illinois around”? They want to attract tourists to an unknown destination and then lure them back with Rend Lake? Sorry, but each bordering state has lakes that dwarf that 10-foot deep mud puddle and I don’t see them coming back. Bradley mentioned drawing from more states, but doesn’t mention it’s fewer people within a day’s drive.
Wouldn’t it have made sense to build the World Shooting Complex in Marion if the goal was to have a tourist draw—instead of two hours away? How about a long-term plan instead of cobbling something together at the last minute off of another area’s reject pile? Holland must be under great pressure to keep all of his equipment busy.
I don’t know what the answer is for southern Illinois, but I really don’t think retail jobs are it…
Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 2:23 pm
==We’re talking boomtown for the entire region.==
(from The Southern’s editorial)
Wow…did Holland write that for you? They describe “Balkan-like” fighting between Metro East communities. I disagree and would say it was more reaction of wary mayors who have watched everyone from Wal-Mart to Dollar General shop around for who was offering the best deal. The lure of sales tax dollars is strong, but the smart ones realize you have to wake up with that stranger the next morning…and the next, and the next…
Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 2:31 pm
I don’t know how many of you have been to Marion, but it has to be one of the best representations of how our much of our country has turned into one big land of logos 60 feet in the air. I keep saying to politicians here to look at the progressive economic development that is already happening in a rural area with a state college — Bowling Green, Kentucky (btw BG built their minor league stadium downtown). They have a manufacturing and technology base and a diverse population that extends beyond the University. John Bradley and Mayor Butler’s thinking on economic development for our region is from the last century (and to be fair — most of So. Ill’s local and state politicians). More strip malls, more chain diners and stores, topped off by a gaudy tourist trap. If you act like a desperate and willing date, be prepared to be treated like one by your suitors.
Comment by so. ill. Thursday, May 6, 10 @ 7:50 pm
[…] And Rep. Joyce (D-Chicago) for his closing speech in support of voucher, which Rich Miller from the Capitol Fax Blog called “strongest closing speeches I’ve seen in 20 years.” […]
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